Week 3 NCAA Wrap-Up

So, we finished a relatively quiet week 3 in the NCAA. There were no headline games that were the talk of the entire week in the Sports world. There was only 1 “upset” to speak of. Let’s take a look at some of the Sit Down / Stand Up awards for Week 3 in the NCAA

STAND UP

Clemson vs. Auburn – What a great game! This was one of the hardest hitting college games I have ever seen. These two teams slug it out like a heavy weight championship fight with Auburn coming out victorious after going to the judges. Clemson jumped out to a 17-0 lead and looked like they were going to cruise to victory against an emerging Auburn team in the first half. Auburn came out and established themselves in the 2nd half and went on to win in Double OT. Clemson has nothing to hang their head about, they played an excellent game.

Welcome back Mark Ingram – Alabama Crimson Tide welcomed back their reigning Heisman winner back on the field after missing the season’s first two games while recuperating from early season arthroscopic knee surgery. Most people thought that Ingram would have slowly been eased into action, but man, we were WRONG. Ingram rushed for 151 yards and 2 TD in 9 carries…yeah, you read that right, 9 CARRIES!!!! Ingram went over 100 yards in his first 3 carries. I know, it was against Duke, but hey, this young man just came back from knee surgery 3 weeks ago.

Michigan State and the BRASS Cojones of head coach Mike Dantonio – Michigan St was rushing onto the field to get lined up to kick a tying field goal to send the game against Notre Dame into a second overtime when the unimaginable happened. Instead of kicking, Michigan St. punter Aaron Bates (a former quarterback in high school) took the snap, and instead of putting the ball down to be kicked, stood and lofted a perfect pass into the waiting hands of Charlie Gantt for a game winning touchdown! Perhaps the excitement was too much for coach Dantonio, who suffered a heart attack after the game (he is doing well now). Took a lot of guts to make the call, but Dantonio had faith in his team and the Spartans executed the play to perfection.

SIT DOWN

Jake Locker – Ok, can we stop having Jake Locker thrown in our face every Saturday now? Pundits have said that Locker would be an almost guaranteed lock to be the number 1 pick in next spring’s NFL draft. A quarterback that is the potential number 1 draft pick should have his team in a position to win EVERY WEEK!! Yes, Washington did play Nebraska, one of the nation’s top defenses, but Locker should have been able to put up numbers, even in the loss. Speaking of numbers, let’s look at Locker’s. He went 4-20 for 71 yards (45 of those yards went for a touchdown) and 2 interceptions. That’s right, the “sure thing” passed for a 20 percent completion rate.

Iowa Hawkeyes – Iowa entered their game against Arizona ranked 9th in the nation behind quarterback Ricki Stanzi. Iowa was supposed to challenge the Ohio State Buckeyes for the Big 10 title. Iowa had national championship aspirations. As par the course, the Hawkeyes choked early in a stunning loss to the Arizona Wildcats (24th in the nation). Seems like every year Iowa is hyped up to be a national contender, and then slip up against a team they had no business losing to.

Notre Dame – Although they have a new coach in Brian Kelly, it’s the same results; losing the big games! Notre Dame is 1-6 in it’s last 7 games. I know it’s early, and Coach Kelly has not had time to get his own recruits in, but it’s so fun to hate the Fightin’ Irish.

Check back with me later in the week for a look at the big games heading into this weekend in the NCAA.